February's Guest Review

LP: In the piss-take infomercial category,
at least this one's well executed.
Suffers a bit from the "Check out the
website to find out what this all actually
means" epidemic, but the
"exploding whales" and "nasty stuff"
ensure you'll still be watching (and
laughing) when it appears.Three stars.

TW: Instead of embracing the low-tech,
lowbrow nature of user-generated
content and creating a tedious,
unfunny version of it to advertise a
user-generated content site, try
embracing the funny, original nature
of user-generated content and create
a funny, original ad.
No stars.

Halls "Protect
Yourself"
The lozenge is guardian in
these safety-themed
posters.

LP: Think of something that does the
same something as your product,
then swap them out . . . sound familiar?
The nice art direction and campaignability
somewhat save it.
Two stars.

TW: This was the one project under
review that I encountered before I
was asked to judge it here. I was at
LaGuardia, speeding to my gate when
I was stopped by the "School Bus" ad.
It stopped me precisely because I didn't
have to stop. The combination of
simplicity, playfulness and intelligence
gave me everything. The
"Rollerblade" and "Soldier" executions
are just as strong, but the rest
feel forced.
Three stars.

Toyota "On
Toyota's Mind"
A floating brain introduces
some of the concepts
intriguing Toyota at ihuvudetpatoyota.se

LP: Nice sentiment from Toyota, true
to the company's vision, and the site
doesn't make them feel like a corporate
giant trying to force-feed you
with information. They've also managed
to do it without loads of annoying
self-indulgent layers between the
entertaining bits and the "corner
assist" and "easy flat system" demonstrations.
Four stars.

TW: While it's clear to me that the
Toyota Prius symbolizes a cleaner,
better world, it isn't clear what message,
or what world, Toyota is championing
here. The introduction presents
a smoggy/foggy mass emanating
from a teeming, ambiguous world.
The aesthetic is reminiscent of director
Jean-Pierre Jeunet, but more
Delicatessen than Amelie. Is this the
world we live in now, which Toyota
will one day improve? Is this their
vision of an ideal future? The ambiguity
continues as the information
within the site isn't focused on the
Prius, or even on Toyota's environmental
innovations.While much of it
is informative and, in places, optimistic,
I was still left wondering what,
indeed, was on Toyota's mind.
Three stars.

MasterCard
"Arrivals"
Director Simon Ratigan
hung around at the airport
to catch reunions in this
holiday-themed
MasterCard spot.

LP: Pretty basic tactical extension of
the nice MasterCard campaign, but
Heathrow airport has never looked so
good.
One star.

TW: There are times in the life of a
campaign when it feels, from the outside
at least, like those who originally
created it (on the agency side and the
client side) had either lost the point
or left.While it can be debated
whether or not it felt like this has
happened in the life of the "Priceless"
campaign, the "Arrivals" spot is not
one of those times. This spot delivers
the original point that is as good as -
and, in certain ways, better than - the
best spots in the campaign. The confidence
and restraint shown by not
using the voiceover expands the
music, the moment and the emotion.
Four stars.

Street Review

Thomas Henry
IT professional by
day, Grade-A wild
man by night,
Thomas Henry
can frequently be
found patrolling
Bed-Stuy with his
Boston terrier.

Ziddio.com
"Viral Learning
Center"

For the YouTube demographic
that Ziddio is going after, this is
very, very effective, because
it's hilarious. The only problem
is that it may be too funny. It
was hard to take seriously at
first; I really thought it was a
joke altogether. That would be
the one thing that would've
maybe kept me from going to
Ziddio.com.
Three stars.